Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-06
'n.AILY HERALD.
OLIVE CULTURE.
asa,sea e Land either Rude OF
- Rich.

OLIVE CULTURE.
Haaptsa e Land either Rude OF
Rich.
There II : delusion abroad that it is
ussless to plant olives on the rich aiiu.
vial or diluvial soil of Cali ornia, and
hat the only proper place to raise olives
ls on tho rugged slopes of our foothills.
The author Of this delusion is himself
aeluded. No finer olives grow in Cal
Ifornia or anywhere else than in the
de<p soil at the San Fernando Mission
and Camulos rancho. Il is true that
che fruit grows on dry upland ana sne
quality il excellent, but in the san rer,
nando soil, 100 feet deep, the fruit OF
the olive tree is larger than on the up
l,nds and the yield 10 about twice rs
oreat in the rich plain as II Is In une
rcckv hills. It is aho true that the oilve
a probably the most profitable tree 10
orov on the uplands, because few o'her
frser win grow in those localities, but 1t
= not inst to say that this grand tree
ehould not be planted except In such
elevated and rugged places. Ii an or
chsrdist has no upland he can plant on
the rich plains, out of the fog belt, and
- matter how rich the land is, the olive
NH reward the owner for the richness
AZ the land. If the planter should have
upland, of course he will plant the oiive
there. but must not imagine that ne can
not plant the tree in any other iocaity.
wherever in Southern California the land
q porous, elevated. free from nightly fogs
and we'll drained, the historic olive will
do veil. Il matters not whether it IS
On 4 rugged mountain side or the rich
mess below, il will thrive abundantly
end pay q much a. any other fruit tree,
With less care and attention. The tree
should bs pruned inwardly and not per-
uitted to grow wildly. 1t will bear
fruit il properly cared for. for thou
sand wears. and traditions state that
olive trees are nov bearing fruit that
boro fruit ct the time of the crucihxion,
1887 years ago.
Mr.. William A. Lawson, in . private
lse&er ON the subject of olive culture,
mainly addressed to objections raised
by'a Mr.. Whitney who feared the olive
niRht be in the future unproftable,
mekes the following excellent points:
ssYou remember the letters from SUIT
life that appeared in the San Francisco
Chronicle last year, relative to the olive!
Writing from France he said that the
olive IL there more profitable lin an
ordinary state Of prosperity than cereals
or vine. And he went abroad with the
speciaI purpose Of investigating the sub
ject Of olive culture.
.sIt is possible, as Mr.. Whitney says,
that the duty on olive oil will sooner or
later be taken off. But the same is
true Of wine and brandy, raisins. figs.
nuts, oranges, lemons, prunes and other
products Vi orchard and vineyard. And
his argument, applied to the olive, OF
competition with the cheap labor OF
Europe, applies as well to the vine.
orange, almond, pruue, etc. why
should the olive be singled out? 1t can
be grown with much less expense and
care than the orange or the grape. l
think the true ideas for California Is to
grow such fruits as can not be produced
elsewhere in the United States Florida
perhaps excepted), fearless of European
competition. Thousands of years of
Ahs closest kind of competition have not
destroyed the profits Of olive growing
= the countries about the Maditerra.
mean. France has 1000 acres in
elivss; Italy, l.40O. 600 acres; Spain an
enormous area planted to the tree. But
France can not, or does not raise olives
enough to supply the foreign demand
for oil, and notoriously uses cotton-seed
and other oils TO adulterate the insult.
cient product Of olive oil.
Mr.. Whitney says that in point of
fact we get great deal of the very best
oil that e made in France or Italy. This
l. contrary to the opinion of United
States Consul Walsh ct Florence, who
Hes officially reported to our government
that no pure oil is exported from Italy.
-s'Twenty five per cent, he declares,
~sof the liquid exported is composed of
-cotton-seed oil, and the MIXTURE some
stimes contains fifty per cent" Our Con.
suls at France have made like state
.msnts. This is the ''virgin Italian oil'
that can be bought in San Francisco at
g. % agallon.
Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara,
has had to compete sgainst all Europe
(save for the duty Of 81 a gallon), and
his oil 10 quoted at $3.50 per dozen
quart bottles, and hard to get. He has
told me that ten-year-old trees should
give an average Of $50 pounds Of berries
each, and that fifteen pounds of berries
make one bottle of oil. His trees are all
of the Mission variety and the soil is
xood-some of it Tor much of it)-adohe
The yield of Mr.. Whitneys twelve or
thirteen. year old trees (forty five pounds
esrch| is certainly small. This is prob
ably the cause of his poor opinion of the
olive for profit. A juiicious pruning
might greatly improve their bearing
qualities. A ten.year. old olive tree blew
down last winter in this city. Its owner,
Peter Kunz, told me it bore $50 pounds
. year. Isaac Lea, at Florin, has some
twelve-year- olive trees that he says
bear l25 pounds each. There ara slime
very old Mission trees at San Diego that
have borne l5O gallons of berries each
annually, for two years in succession. In
Ellwood Cooper's pamphlet on the olive,
he says that in 1878 he took over thirty
gallons each off few Of his best trees,
his orchard being then only six years old.
He adds that he thought some of his
eieht-year-old trees would bear over
forty gallons each. Mr.. Whitney s
trees do not, therefore, furnish fair
criterion OF the yield of the olive in
California. Our virgin soil gives far
better returns than those obtained in
Europe with the most costly fertiliza-
ton. Thus in Venitis, sixteen-year- old
trees are said to yield but four gallons of
berries each, and throughout the Med
iteransan region the olive tree does not
bear until ten years Of age.
Counsel Oppenheim, at Cadiz, reports
that the best olive groves give net in
come of $58 on acre, and that that the
average is $40 an acre. He estimates
the net income of orange orchards there
at go an acre. Consul Roosevelt, at
Bordeaux, has estimated the net returns
from the vineyards of that district at
$23 an acre-not q bad showing for the
olive. in comparison. l may add that